Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ With A Jagged Edge ❯ Tayven ( Chapter 1 )

Don't ask me where this story is going or where it will eventually end up because even I don't know that! I am basically just winging it so to speak. So your guess is as good as mine. I suppose it depends on where, exactly, the characters want to end up. Yeah, I know, that's a very lame excuse...but oh well!

Oh and before I forget; Dragonball Z is (c) Akira Toriyama and all that good stuff. Tayven, however, is ALLL mine...

Tayven: *Glares*

~Ami

Her name was Tayven. She knew it was a weird name. She also didn't give a rat's ass. It was the only name she had and she was damn proud of it. At least, that was what she told herself. Running her thin fingers through her shoulder-length midnight locks, Tayven glared at the computer screen for the uptenth time through narrowed dark eyes. She'd never finish it! Growling, she shoved back the chair and began to pace the small area around her dingy apartment, chewing on the ends of her hair as she did so.

Dressed in a loose-fitting pair of tan cargo pants, a white wifebeater and graying tennis shoes that had seen better days, Tayven paused to look out the window at the urban senery below her. She lived in Satan City's most dilapidated district. All around her she saw various forms of suffering, from poverty to disease ridden hookers slinging their wares on the block kitty-corner from the run-down red-brick building which housed her little abode.

She wanted more than anything to get the hell out of here. It was a foolish dream, she knew, as she backed from the window, (it was broken so refused to close all the way, duct tape and plastic keeping the cold air out unsucessfully in the winter), turned to walk the three feet or so to the small kitchen and began to fix herself something to eat.

Staring down into her froot loops a few minutes later, Tayven sat cross-legged on the floor, her only peice of furniture being the sofa with the springs loose she used as bed up against the wall next to her, on the floor with her back braced against said sofa holding the bowl in her lap.

She was thankful to at least have her crappy Apple computer. She'd gotten from a garage sale a few months back. The man let her have it for less than fifty dollars. Money she'd saved up pan-handling the streets during the day. It was her most prized possesion. Before she had aquired it, she'd done all her writing on paper, mostly napkins and the like. It felt good to be able to type out her stories. Even if she couldn't print them out or save them to disk considering how obsolete her console was she wasn't even sure they made floppies for it anymore.

She's give anything to get her hands on one of the new models that had recently came out. One put out by Capsule Corp. Standing, Tayven yawned and turned back towards the kitchen with her now-empty bowl of cereal in one hand. The milk had tasted a bit funny. Probably need to have the landlord come and take a look at the fridge, she thought. Suddenly, before she could do anything, something large crashed, well, actually it looked like it was thrown, through her window, knocking her into the wall and sending the bowl flying out of her hands.

"What the...?!" She cried, trying to push the weight off of her, she heard her bowl crash somewhere behind her, "Damn it! That was my last bowl! Get off of me!"

She'd broken all her other bowls at one time or another after becoming too angry or frustrated and throwing them against the wall in a tantrum. She had a problem of acting first and regretting later. Her temper, she assumed it was due to her irish ancestory, flared up almost with a regularity that would make fiber-eaters jealous. The being who had landed so unceremoniously upon her rolled to the side and stood up. He shook himself off and glanced at her. She saw that he looked bruised, battered, the orange gi he wore was tattered, hanging off his toned, well-shaped body like rags. Holding a hand out to her, he offered to help her to her feet.

Tayven sneered at him and ignored him, picking herself up and dusting off her pants. Just as she was about to ask him what the hell was going on, he shoved her aside roughly as a barrage of blinding explosions crashed through the walls of her apartment, coming from the now-shattered-beyond-repair window.

"Sorry!" He said, jumping up and taking off through the gaping hole in her wall. Tayven, panting, looked around in horror. Her apartment was totaled. There wasn't any other way of saying it. Huge craters where walls should have been showed her the hallway and gave her a view into neighboring apartments. She waved, annoyed, to Mr. Timmons as he crouched behind his rocking chair holding a baseball bat in one hand.

Standing there, in the middle of her ruined home, Tayven felt the familar heat rising to her cheeks that always came when she lost her temper. Climbing through the hole in the wall, she stalked over to the old man, jerked his bat from his startled grip and, in a rage, began to use it on the cracked and falling walls of the building, screaming profanities as she did so.

Mr. Timmons, aware as the rest of the building of #222's fits of temper, backed away until the shadows hid him from view, hoping she'd calm down and realize what she was doing. Tayven, however, was immune to anything save the need to break something, anything, and make something hurt and feel her anger. She screamed; "It's not fucking fair! What did I do to deserve this!?" She glanced at her computer, or, what was left of it and went livid all over again.

Panting, an hour later, Tayven sank to her knees, the redness about her cheeks looked blotchy, still holding the baseball bat. She'd done far more damage to the area around and within her apartment than the stranger and his attackers had done earlier. But she didn't care. In her heart, she always knew this day would come. She could never keep herself in check. Always she ended up ruining things.

It was the reason she wasn't living at home with her parents. After having to fix the walls and buy new furniture one time too many, they had sat her down and gave her an ultimatium. Shape up or ship out. Believing the problem lay with them and not with her, she had left. She'd thought she'd found a good thing with this place. Now it was ruined. Like most things in her life.

Growling, riding the wave clear into the waiting pity pool, Tayven failed to hear the soft landing made on the floor just beside her. She looked up at the sound of broken glass crunching under feet; into the worried expression of the man who'd flown through her window earlier. "Hey," He said, looking around, "I'm sorry for breaking your window, but, you must have wanted to redecorate or something, huh?"

She glared up at him. He scratched the back of his neck, looking around nervously, "I know! Why don't you come with me and I'll find us something to eat!" His stomach, as though merely waiting to be aknowleged, growled it's agreement. "Sorry again about your house. I guess I shouldn't have been training so close to the city..."

"I don't need your help." Tayven said coldly, even though she glanced back at her kitchen, which she knew was ill-stocked. Her own stomach rumbled. Cold cereal just didn't hit the spot, "I'm not a charity case, you know!"

"I never said you were," He said, "But, I'm hungry! If you want to come with me, come on, if not..." He shrugged and turned towards the window. Tayven fought with herself. A very strong part of her wanted to turn around and ignore him until he was gone. If she'd learned one thing about being on her own, it was that the only person that mattered in the

end was numero uno and that most people didn't just give anything away for free. But, she was hungry and the prosect of a meal, a real meal, began to override her strong sense of pride and self-presevation.

"Fine." She said, walking towards him before he could leap from the window, "But the food better be worth it! You totaled my apartment!"

Laughing, he scooped up her slight weight and flew with her into the air. He asked her for her name and she gave it, waiting for him to comment on how odd it was. Her fist clenched in readiness to knock him one if he even so much as snickered and he told her his name. She didn't feel so bad about her own.

"Don't worry, Chi Chi's a great cook!" The man who'd just introduced himself as Goku was saying as they touched down outside a round-roofed house, "Come on!"

"Goku!" Tayven pulled up short at the screeching sound of a woman's voice, cringing,

"Where have you been?! Where's Gohan! He's suppose to be studying! You know he has a test in the morning!"

"Chi Chi," Goku strode up to her, planted a kiss on her fuming cheek and turned towards Tayven, "This is Tayven. I asked her to stay for dinner, if that's okay? Oh, Gohan's training with Piccolo, I think...He should be back in time for dinner though."

"Oh!" Chi Chi seemed embarraced by her outburst, her face red, she smiled widely at Tayven and took her hands, "Come inside, dear! You look so thin! Here! Sit down and I'll fix you something to tide you over until dinner."

Pulling her hands from Chi Chi's Tayven sat down and waited.

Dinner at the Son house was horrid, she found out. Not only did she have to suffer though curious looks and personal questions aimed at her by one of the two children; a teenager named Gohan. They aslo had infant boy named Goten. Chi Chi's constant bickering was interrupted only by Goku stuffing his face like there was no tomorrow and getting food all over the place. Although, she reflected, finishing the chicken Chi Chi had made, she'd take his eating habits over his stupidity any day. At least with his mouth full he couldn't talk.

Sighing, she thanked Chi Chi for the food, feeling more than a little sorry for her, and headed outside.

"Odd girl," Chi Chi said, as Goku merely shrugged, currently having a love affair with a bowl of mashed potatos.

"Goku!" Chi Chi cried, reaching over and yanking the bowl of potatoes from his hands,

"Go after her! It's dangerous for a young girl like herself!"

"Heh," Goku said, eyeing Gohan's chicken, "I don't think we have to worry about that one..."

"Gooookuuu..." Chi Chi's voice lowered warningly. Goku sighed, giving one last long look at the food still available and pushed himself away from the table, heading outside after Tayven.

~*~*~

Sweat dripping in his eyes, Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, reached over and flipped a switch on the wall. A whoosh of air and the door to the outside world slid open. Pausing, his foot on the threshhold, about to step from the gravity room he'd shut himself up in since that afternoon after lunch, as a sudden feeling overcame him. He sensed something. An unfamilar enegry...drawing near.

It was easy enough to seperate the weak ki of the woman, Bulma, from his toddler son, Trunks and the new source that was approuching at a slow pace. Wiping his face on his sleeve, Vegeta glared into the setting sun.

~*~*~

Tayven walked on. She didn't much know where she was going. She didn't much care. She just couldn't stand one more minute in that house. With those...people. She was thankful for the food and had made sure to say as much to the woman of the house, but that was as far as it went.

She had work to do and nothing was going to get done unless she left. She needed to find shelter for the night and, hopefully, a place to stay for awhile. She didn't have any money so she knew it was going to be an even harder task. She cringed as she thought of it, but it seemed she'd have no choice but to join those streetwalkers on the corner. At least long enough to get some cash togeher.

She saw a large yellow building up ahead and sighed. Well, It's too late to try hiking back into the city now, She thought, Maybe they'll let me crash with them for the night.

She was nearly at the walkway when she felt a rush of air behind her. Stopping and turning around, hands on her hips, she said loudly; "What do you think your doing, Goku?"

"I...uh...Chi Chi was worried..." He landed in front of her and looked around, "Sorry, I thought..."

"You thought what?" Her eyes narrowed, "That poor helpless little girl needs to be escorted about after dark?"

From the shadows near the Gravity room door, Vegeta's ears pricked up at the sound of the voices. He'd felt Kakkarot's ki as well, but tried to ignore it. He smirked to himeself as he listened to her harsh tone towards Kakkarot. Before he could stop himself, he began to wonder who she was and where she came from.

"Well..." Goku smiled, "You have to admit, you are little..."

Before he could do or say anything else, Tayven's eyes flashed in anger and her fist shot out, catching him on the jaw. He wasn't phased, of course, being saiyan, but the act of her sudden attack shocked him into stumbling backwards. Tripping on a lose stone, Goku flailed about but landed with a thump on his rear end. Tayven stepped over him and said;

"I told you before. I don't need your help."

She spun around as Vegeta watched, stepping towards the house, when suddenly, it seemed, she was bathed in a bright golden aura. It made his breath catch and stilled his heart. She seemed an etherel goddess dropped down to spend a few moments among mortals. Music that sounded like an orchesta began to play, it's notes surrounding and caressing his very being.

Then.

"Woman!" Vegeta yelled, squinting into the light as Tayven held a hand over her eyes,

"Turn off that damn floodlight!"

"Sorry!" Came a woman's reply from inside the house. The sudden blazing light was snuffed out.

"And turn down that noise!" Vegeta shouted again.

There came a series of cursing inside, but the music died down.

Tayven regarded him with barely hid curiousity, hands on her hips. "So..." She looked around at the building behind him, "Capsule Corp, huh? You live here?"

"As if it's any business of yours," Vegeta said coldly, arms folded over his chest, "But, yes, I do. Who are you? Kakkarot! No! Don't eat that, you baka!"

Goku, looking startled, held a funny looking plant to his mouth. Turning red, he dropped it quickly and kicked it aside with his foot. Vegeta ignored him and turned back to the girl, who he noticed with no little amount of satifaction, was a good head shorter than he was. Which, of course, was a rarity.

"My name is Tayven." She said, "Listen, do you mind if I stay over tonight, it's too late to walk back to the..."

"I don't care what you..." Vegeta began but was interrupted by another voice.

"Vegeta!" Bulma stalked outside, her hair up in curlers, "What's going on out here? Who is this?"

"No body!" Vegeta snarled, "Just some female."

"Vegeta!" Bulma scolded, "Be nice! You look tired, dear..." She said, turning to Tayven, "Come inside and we'll find you a place to sleep."

"She is not staying here!" Vegeta yelled, following after them into the house. Bulma ignored him and showed Tayven to one of the guest rooms, telling herself to make herself at home. Tayven knew the woman's name all ready. One did not live in Satan City for long and not know who the president of Capsule Corp was. Sitting down on the bed, she looked around.

It was a nice enough room. White plush carpeting, wicker furniture and, she noticed, a rounded balcony off the side through a pair of sliding glass doors. The room even had a small table and chair and a dresser in the corner for her clothes. If she had any clothes, that was. There was a small bathroom connected to her room as well. She used that bathroom now to take a quick shower and wash her hair. It felt so good not to have to bath in lukewarm water that turned cold after only five minutes. She must have stayed in there, under the spray, for a good twenty minutes.

There was a knock on the door as she stood in the center of the room, a towel tucked over her almost non-exsistant chest and reaching her ankles. Before she could say anything, it was opened a crack and something tossed inside. Bulma's voice sang out; "I noticed you didn't have a bag with you. I brought you something to wear."

"Um," Tayven faltered, "Thanks."

The door clicked shut and Tayven walked over to where the saw the object being dropped. Reaching down, she picked it up and noticed it was a powder blue nightgown, a bit transparent and too frilly for her tastes, but she really didn't have anything esle since her own clothing needed a good scrub to say the least. She put it on quickly and turned to look at herself in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door, blushing readily when she saw how...um...cold...it must be in the room.

"Well," She sighed, "No use complaining. Beggars can't be choosers."

Crawling into bed, suddenly tired beyond all endurance, Tayven sank into a dreamless sleep in a matter of moments. The problem was, she was a very light sleeper and often woke up three or four times in the middle of the night, mostly for no apparent reason. She became aware of being awake slowly, feeling scared for a few moments as the feeling of being someplace she didn't know died down as she recalled events of the previous night. Sitting up, her shoulder-length normally straight black hair had dried wet the night before, looked like a bird had built a nest in the back of it.

She slipped out of bed and padded, on barefeet, towards the bathroom. Using a brush she'd found under the sink, she tamed her hair back down and got the tangles free. That done, she got back into bed and closed her eyes, trying to fall back to sleep. However, after five minutes of trying she gave up and realized that sleep just wasn't in the cards at the moment.

Glancing to the side, she noticed the lights from the numbers on the clock beside the bed read 3:45a.m. Sitting up again, she thought, I bet everyone's asleep. How often do I get a chance to explore the president of Capsule Corp's home? With that thought riding foremost in her mind, Tayven, not caring how revealing her attire was, after all, everyone would be asleep so who'd see her, right?, crept out of her room and down the hall.

~*~*~

"Why can't you lay still!" Bulma complained after Vegeta's hundreth time rolling around on his side of the bed, "I can't sleep with you tossing and turning, Vegeta!" She hissed, her back to him. She heard his stomach growl and added; "Go get something to eat, then!"

Not saying a word, Vegeta sat up and shoved the blankets aside. It was too damn hot in the room. That was why he couldn't sleep. Dressed in a white t-shirt and black boxers, he crossed the room and stepped out into the hallway, meaning to head towards the kitchen for something to eat. Maybe after a full stomach he'd be able to get some rest.

He wasn't prepared for what greeted him.

Tayven was standing with her back to him, peering down at Bulma's computer, obviously intrigued. Just as she was about to touch the screen to activate it, Vegeta cleared his throat and she jumped, startled, like a kid with it's hand in the cookie jar.

"What are you doing?" He asked, leaning casually against the counter, smirking at her,

"Besides snooping around, I mean?"

Tayven's face flushed. She turned to face him, arms akimbo in her habitual stance when dealing with people who pissed her off, "As if you have anything worth snooping into."

Ignoring her comment, Vegeta's eyes dropped and he did not hide the fact that he was staring at her barely concealed body beneath the gown Bulma had loaned her. Tayven had completely forgotten what she wore. The way his dark eyes traveled just now reminded her and she folded her arms over her chest, trying to hide them from his persual.

"Just what do you think your looking at?" She hissed, angry, "Stop staring at me. Haven't you ever seen breasts before?"

"Of course," He said, not able to resist the urge to goad her on, "Just never ones that small before. Are you sure your a female...?"

"You asshole!" She ran forward, swung her fist back and meant to knock him one as she did Goku earlier. But, he was too fast for her and grabbed her by her fist, holding it in place between him. She glared at him through dark brown eyes and he shoved her backwards so that she fell on her butt on the kitchen floor.

"Don't try that again, girl," He said, staring down at her, "Next time I won't be so gentle."

~*~*~

Tayven got to her feet quickly, ignoring the pain in her hip from where it had struck the floor of the kitchen. Hard. She knew there would be a bruise in a few short hours. She didn't care. It wasn't like she'd never had bruises before. Slipping past Vegeta, she paused long enough to say, over her shoulder, "There won't be a next time."

Grunting in response, Vegeta turned to eye the contents of the refridgerator, his stomach suddenly becoming his main concern now that the girl was out of the room. She was of little worry. He'd smelled the fear issueing from her when he'd knocked her down and threatened her, even though she tried to hide it.

~*~*~

Tayven cursed herself for being intimidated by him. She'd tried not to show it, but she was almost certain he knew. Actually, if she were honest with herself, and most of the time she wasn't, a lot of things intimidated her. She just tried to put on a brave front so that people wouldn't think she was an easy target. She'd seen her share of girls and boys taken advantage of since she left home and vowed to never be one of them. Even if that meant never being able to allow herself to become close to any other living being. When one gets themselves involved with other people, even for friendship, they start to lay claims on each other.

Tayven had no use for claims of any sort. She'd be leaving soon.

Sighing, she made her way back the room she'd been assigned and tried to sleep the rest of the night, waking up only when the sun's rays put forth it's fingers to softly push the dust of sleep from her eyes. Yawning, she sat up and quickly used the bathroom, wondering what she was going to wear since her own clothes were still dirty. After a moment, she shrugged and put them on instead. She'd find a bathroom in the city and....

A knock on the door and Bulma entered half a second later. Eyeing Tayven's attire, she cringed and said; "Tayven. Let me have those...to...uh...wash." She held a capsule in one palm and tossed to Tayven, who caught it readily, "Some clean clothes." Bulma added, leaving Tayven alone again.

After half a second, Tayven shrugged and tossed the capsule to the floor. After a brief flash, she beheld a pair of faded black jeans, a pair of white cotton underwear with a little pink ribbon on the front, white ankle socks and a dark blue t-shirt that had the Capsule Corp logo enblazoned across the front.

Even though it went against every fiber of her being to accept such obvious charity, Tayven couldn't stand her stinky clothes anymore and quickly ditched them for the cleaner set. Once she'd redressed, she brushed her hair down and gave herself a quick once-over in the mirror. Briefly, she wished she had some makeup, but then, she'd been born lucky. She had her mother's nearly flawless peaches and cream complexion with a tiny beauty mark just under her left eye and a dimple that played in and out of her right cheek when she smiled.

She did so now, just to see what she looked like smiling instead of scowling. Showing her teeth she was happy that she'd made sure to take as good a care of them as she could; brushing them everyday and flossing. She couldn't afford to go to a dentist, but at least she could do what she could. Her teeth weren't completely white and she had a few cavities in the back. They were slightly crooked in front, but they seemed to give her character rather than make her look ugly. She often thought her teeth looked a bit like that singer, Jewel's.

"Tayven?" Bulma knocked on the bedroom door, not waiting to be given permission to enter. Tayven figured since it was her house, she didn't have to, "Breakfast is almost ready. If you want to eat I suggest you hurry."

"Thank you, Ms. Briefs..." Tayven fumbled not sure what, exactly, to call her. Bulma smiled and shook her head; "No, dear, just call me Bulma."

Bulma left her and few moments later Tayven came downstairs to the kitchen. Vegeta was just sitting down, eyeing the food Bunny, Bulma's ditzy mother, had cooked. Quickly, Tayven reached over and snatched a plate of bacon off the table, ignoring Vegeta's glare, she jumped up onto the counter top and began nibbling on a peice. Bunny, humming under her breath, placed a fresh plate of bacon in front of Vegeta. She poured a glass of orange juice for Tayven and handed it to the girl as she walked past back to the stove.

Tayven finished the bacon and her juice, feeling full. She did not get up off the counter and leave, however. She continued watching Vegeta as he scarfed down a meal that would have easily feed a family of five for three days. After a few minutes, he looked up to catch her staring in wide-eyed wonder.

"What?!" He asked, his mouth full of scrambled egg, some of it escaping to land around the plate in front of him, "Are you gawking at?"

"There are people starving you know."

"So?" He said, reaching for the toast and jam, "What's your point?"

"Ugh, never mind." She said, hopping down from the counter and heading out of the room. She paused before the computer, however and gazed longingly at it. She tried not to think about it, but all the stories she'd been working on have all been lost. She knew she could rewrite them, but they wouldn't come out the way she originally had them. She was still angry at Goku for that. "I'm going to ask Bulma about something."

Vegeta didn't bother to respond. He was having a love affair with a plate of pork sausages.

~*~*~

"Yes?" Bulma, holding her little son on her hip, had been going over some blueprints on her desk in her office when Tayven had knocked. "Tayven. What can I do for you?"

The little boy made a face at her and she narrowed her eyes. She never cared for very small children much. Teenagers, like herself, fine, but not little kids. They annoyed her. It seemed to her that they were always messy, sticky, bothersome little creatures that were basically more trouble than they were worth.

Ignoring him, she asked; "Do you think it would be okay if I used your computer? The one in the kitchen? I just want to rewrite some of my stories and if you have a disk I can use to save them..."

"Sure, sure," Bulma seemed distracted, "Help yourself. If you want to go online just hit the round Capsule Corp button on the bottom of the screen. The password's all ready saved."

Bulma went back to the blueprints and little Trunks began a series of baby babble as Tayven closed the door behind her. Tayven wasn't even sure why she was even bothering to think about her writing at a time like this. Not when she didn't even have a place to live for Kami's sake! But, sometimes, her priorities were a bit mixed up to say the least. Besides, when would she get a chance to try out a Capsule Corp created computer again?

She just hoped Vegeta was done and out of the kitchen by the time she went back in there.

Walking back the kitchen, Tayven was glad to see that the one person there was Bulma's mother who was busy cleaning up after Vegeta. Man, she thought to herself as she sat down at the desk, I feel sorry for Mrs. Briefs! How many dishes did he use?! Putting aside that thought, Tayven touched the screen to activate the computer. She was about to click on the word processing program when something caught her eye.

A word file. Curious, she clicked it and read; "The Story Of The Saiyans By Bulma Briefs" Hmm, so Bulma is a writer too...? Tayven couldn't resist the urge to peek at her story. After reading for a hour and a half, Tayven's eyes became tired and her head began to hurt. It was a very engrossing tale, however, and she found herself being drawn into it. Especially when she realized that the people in Bulma's story weren't just people from her imagination, but her family and friends.

She was unaware of someone standing behind her, having gotten so wrapped up in the story on the screen she failed to hear the appoaching footsteps. She was also unaware of how her fists were clenched on her lap and she was yelling at the computer, or rather, at the story she was reading. "No! That's bullshit!" She cried, "Don't tell me that...that idiot became a Super Saiyan first! That's just...retarded!"

"That's pretty much what I thought."

She turned around in the chair and gasped, her face red from being caught reacting so dramatically to a few words on a screen. "H-how long have you...been...?"

"Listening to you?" Vegeta smirked, looking over her shoulder at the story, "About five minutes. You don't really pay much attention to your surroundings, do you?"

"So," She said, closing the file once she was done reading, "Goku's pretty strong, huh?"

"He's a saiyan." Vegeta responded, as though that was all that needed to be said.

"But he's stronger than you, right?" Tayven asked, folding her legs up under herself and

spinning the chair around in a circle, "No matter how hard you train, you've never been able to get stronger than him...right?"

Suddenly, Vegeta reached out and caught the chair, halting it's spinning and leaned down to peer into Tayven's face. "Shut...up!"

Tayven watched him stalk away before turning back to the computer. Slowly a smile crept across her face as an idea came to her. She opened up the writing program and began to type. After what seemed hours she finally paused, reread what she'd written and smiled. She titled the story and stood up, stretched and walked to the fridge, hungry. It wasn't time for lunch yet, but she was sure no one would mind if she had a snack. She was just turning around, nibbling on a leftover ham sandwich someone had placed in there, when

Vegeta came back into the kitchen, probably hungry.

"What is this?" He asked, as he looked at the writing still spread across the screen, "Why are you writing about me?"

Tayven shrugged. The story she'd just finished writing, she knew, was entitled "Vegeta's Story: The Way It Should Have Been." It was pure fantasy, of course, sort of a 'what-if' tale. She didn't know why she wrote it, being as how Vegeta's been nothing but a prick to her the entire time she'd been here, but sometimes, when the writing bug bites she can't always choose what the subject matter is going to be.

Her story was nearly identical to Bulma's. With one major difference. Vegeta was stronger than Goku. He beat Goku in every fight and reached Super Saiyan before Goku. There were some other changes she added, but they were so stuble as to be hardly noticable. She stood with her back against the fridge door, waiting for him to finish reading and give his opinion.

"I like your vision," He said at last, "Unfortunatly, none of what you wrote is true."

"I know that!" She said, finishing the sandwish and wiping her mouth on her sleeve, "I just didn't like the way Bulma wrote it."

"But, her version is truth." He said, "Yours is not."

"So?" Tayven asked, eyebrows raised into her hairline, "What's your point?"

Instead of answering, Vegeta choice to change the subject.

"Are you leaving today sometime?" He looked bored and ready to be done with her and the conversation, "If so, you should head out while it's still day light."

"I was going to leave today, yes," Tayven said, smiling a rare smile, "But, on second thought, I think I'll ask Bulma if I can stay longer. Besides, I can see how annoyed you are at having me around."

"So, why don't you just leave?" He said coldly.

"What?" Tayven asked, "And miss all the fun?"

"Your dangerously close to pissing me off, girl," He said, striding towards the fridge and shoving her aside to open it and scan the inside, "You would do well to keep that tongue of yours in check."

Her eyes narrowed in sudden anger, Tayven picked herself up off the floor where she'd fallen when he'd shoved her aside and snapped; "Bite me!" Before turning around and, before she could stop herself, slammed her fist through the computer's screen. The glass shattered around her hand sending jagged peices of glass into her fist and wrist. But she didn't feel the pain, all she felt was a grudging satisifaction and the sad realization that she'd, once more, ruined things by losing her temper.

Pulling her hand from the gaping, edged hole in the computer's monitor, Tayven became subdued and hung her head. She sighed and, her hand dripping blood down her leg she held it at her side and onto the floor, walked out of the room. Leaving Vegeta to glare after her. He wasn't worried about her hurting herself. No, rather, he didn't want to deal with Bulma's screeching at him when she found out what had happened to her computer.

Deciding that perhaps it would be better to not be around for awhile...perhaps for a good while, Vegeta turned and headed outside, holding some cold fried chicken that Bulma's mother had made the other day.

Upon walking outside, he saw the girl, Tayven, standing next to one of the large oak trees Bulma's mother had thought would be a good place for her cats to climb and sun themselves when she'd had them uprooted from a forest and replanted on thier property.

He stood a little ways away from her, meaning to just take off and get the hell away from everyone for a bit, at least until the girl was gone and Bulma was over whatever her reaction to her busted computer would be, watching as she raised her fists and began to pound upon the thick trunk's solidness. Tears were pouring from her eyes and her damaged hand was red and blood-caked. After a few moments of this, she tired and sank to her knees, still sobbing uncontrollably.

Tayven did not know she was being observed. Had she known she would have clammed up straight away and tried to pretend that she'd never been weeping, saying that if it had looked that way then whoever had seen her should get his eyes checked for she didn't cry like some stupid weak girl. Did she? Yet, she thought she was alone and so the tears came. Tears of frustration and helplessness as well as of anger. She was angry at the whole world; At her parents, her childhood which was robbed from her, at her so-called friends who had ditched her almost as soon as they could, but, most all, she was angry with herself for her inability to keep herself from striking first and asking questions later.

"Stupid brat, you broke that computer!" Vegeta said as he made himself known to her, he thought she was a complete dolt for not paying attention to where she was and who was around. But, she wasn't his problem so he didn't let the thought bother him long, "Stop your sniveling!"

"Shut up!" She coughed, sniffed and swiped at her eyes with her arm, now dirty from leaning against the tree, "Just shut the hell up!"

"Why don't you come over here and make me shut up, girl." He said, standing close but not too close to her, "Or are computer screens and trees the only things you can fight?"

He took a bite of the chicken leg he'd been holding then tossed it to the ground as he beheld the expression on the girl's face.

She looked up, rage crossing her features and changing her normally 'cute' little girl looks to something more savage and filled with a kind of hunger no food could ever sate. She pushed herself to her feet and, screaming, tears still blinding her, launched herself at Vegeta. It was a clumsly, unskilled attack and left her spun around faster than she could blink and landing with a hard thud that knocked the wind out of her on her back at his feet, staring upside-down at him.

"Is that the best you can do?" He laughed, turning to walk away, "I don't know why I've wasted my time on..."

She raced at him, her fists flying out to punch him in the back, but he spun around and blocked her attack easily, grabbing her and using her own mometuim to fling her to the ground once more. Fury driving her onward, she hardly felt the pain as she hit the ground time after time, always picking herself back up and trying, once more, to get the best of him.

Finally, exhausted, her anger dripping from her like milk through a cracked drinking glass, Tayven did not rise after being thrown to the ground for the hundreth-some time. Instead she lay there, panting, tired, suddenly feeling all the bruises her body had sustained and wanting nothing more than to lay down somewhere and die. However, just laying down somewhere and dying was not in her character and so she pushed herself into a sitting position and glared at Vegeta, who'd been standing, arms crossed, waiting to see what she would do.

"So?" He asked, finally, "Are you done feeling sorry for yourself?"

"Shut...up..." She hissed, moving hurt, she groaned, "Don't...think this...is over..."

"I would be highly disapointed if it were," He said, smirking at her, "But you've got a long way to go before you can even think about matching me in a fight. Not that you ever will be able to..."

She glared at him, fists clenched, and stood on shaking legs to look at him and listen, really listen to what he was saying to her. What was he going on about? Her mind was clouded, a bit scrambled to say the least, he sounded far off as if he were talking to her over a long-distant telephone. She struggled to pull the cotton from her ears and focus on what he was saying.

"...you to fight and defend yourself..." She caught his last words and she blinked, confused. He was offering to teach her how to fight. Why? She wondered. He clearly did not like her. In fact, he seemed overjoyed at the prospect of her leaving. Why did he want to help her like this? What could he possibly gain from it? All these questions and more were riding through her head as he looked down at her, "That is, unless you think your too scared and weak to let me train you..."

"I'm not weak!" She cried, her cheeks flaming, "And I'm certainly not scared! Of anything!"

Vegeta knew this to be a lie and so did Tayven. She was afraid of a great many things and even though her body was weak, as it was now, she was very much strong in spirit. Vegeta was counting on this very strength to sway her decision. He did not know why, if asked, he was even considering taking her under his wing, so to speak. But, there was something about the girl he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Something in the way she talked back to him and always seemed to want to fight the world and it's creatures rather than submit quietly to life's hardships that...well, frankly...got to him. He found that he did not want her to leave, but he figured as long as she was around he'd put her to use. Besides, she needed another outlet for that temper of her's.

"I'll give you a choice," He said, turning to leave, "Be here at five in the morning. If your late or don't show, you have to leave Capsule Corp and go your own way."

"And if I do show up?" She asked, her voice filled with disdain, "What then?"

"Then," Vegeta took the the air and scowled down at her, "You are welcome to stay here, as long as you like, and you become my student. But don't think I'm going to be as easy on you as I was today, Tayven."

Tayven sighed and he was gone.